(Sanofi)
Sanofi doubled down on its original 2018 pact with Translate Bio last year as the pair teamed up for an mRNA approach to COVID vaccines, and today the two announced they are starting clinical trials using the tech.
The phase 1/2 trial, which was originally guided for the fourth quarter 2020 but has slid into Q1, will look to enroll 415 participants using the mRNA vaccine MRT5500, with interim results expected in the third quarter. The trial is set up to assess safety, immune response and reactogenicity, after preclinical data showed “high neutralizing antibody levels.”
Those in the test will either get one dose of MRT5500, or two doses 21 days apart. In all, three different dose levels will be investigated (15µg, 45µg or 135µg). It did not give a breakdown of the percentage of age, gender or race of the trial, simply saying all participants will be over 18 years old.
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(Getty/FamVeld)
As it awaits FDA feedback on its pivotal trial for its leading med, Minovia Therapeutics has hired Alan Jacobs, M.D., Ph.D., to help boost it over the line.
The U.S.-Israel biotech, which uses a platform to augment disease caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, will now tap Jacobs’ 20 years’ experience at companies including Aspire Health Science, Hemostemix and PerceptiMed.
As CMO, he will now lead Minovia’s clinical operations and regulatory affairs, including speeding up the development plans for Pearson Syndrome and other “primary and secondary mitochondrial diseases,” the biotech said in a statement.
Currently, Minovia is working on an IND-enabled phase 1/2 test in Pearson syndrome, a fatal pediatric disease. It hopes that by harnessing the power of mitochondria, membrane-bound cell organelles that generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the cell s biochemical reactions, it can help address this unmet medical need and hit other
Mar 11, 2021 12:14pm Abbott previously launched its Global Viral Surveillance Program over 25 years ago to monitor HIV and hepatitis; that program will be folded into the new pandemic coalition. (NIAID - Rocky Mountain Laboratories)
A year into this global pandemic, Abbott is preparing for the next one: the medtech giant has launched a network of centers with expertise in lab testing, genetic sequencing and public health to help catch and track emerging viruses and potentially dangerous mutations.
The goal of the company’s Pandemic Defense Coalition is to help develop diagnostic tests quickly as new threats are discovered and to publish their sequencing findings publicly so others can help determine if the disease is a novel strain.
Mar 11, 2021 10:20am ForSight Robotics platform aims to provide surgeons with full freedom of movement while manipulating tools with precise movements amounting to a few microns, combined with 3D imaging and real-time guidance. (ForSight Robotics)
One of the benefits of surgical robotics is the potential to bring standardized precision to procedures performed almost anywhere and by almost anyone. However, most systems have focused on everything below the neck.
ForSight Robotics aims to bring the same advantages to eye surgery and has raised $10 million to embark on building a miniaturized system with the goal of bringing vision-correcting procedures to a wider population.